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"I will be leaving soon" Those words shocked the two girls as they left Tomoka's lips. Even though they didn't have the full picture, the seriousness depicted in Tomoka's expresion made them worry. 

"Leave? Where are you going?" Hinata hoped that it wouldn't be far nor dangerous. Even though out of the three Tomoka is the strongest she couldn't help but worry for her safety.

"Can we go with you?" Nozomi for her part refused to leave Tomoka's side just like that.

"Yes, I am leaving for a while. Where is a bit hard to tell since there is something I need to check out. Finally, no you two can't go with me since I need to keep my departure a secret." After saying that, Tomoka sighed. She knew it would be hard but this was too much for her.

"I will be leaving the village for a while. I need the two of you to help me or rather my clone to keep appearances. I don't know when I will get another chance to do what I am about to do so can I count on you two?" After saying that Tomoka gave the two girls a small smile. 

"Always. I would just like to know why or for what you are leaving." No matter how much Nozomi disliked the idea of Tomoka leaving, she would not let her down. 

"Mhm, you can count on me as well. It's just that we are worried for you." Hinata felt anxious about all of this but her trust in Tomoka was enough to keep her nerves at bay.

"I guess I could share some of what I am planning to do" After saying that, Tomoka began her explanation. She left some things unsaid so as not to worry about the two gems of her life. By the time she was finished the sun was setting and the girls had made and refined the plan. 

All of this was happening due to the fact that a good month has gone by since their team was formed. D-Ranked missions being nothing more than manual labor jobs with little to no risk made it possible. Tomoka had decided to leave so she could finally check up on that blind spot in the map she had made so long ago. 

Tomoka knew that her team would need to continue with these boring D-Ranked missions for another month or two. In reality, a genin team would need to continue doing these boring missions for a good half a year or so before they would be given any C-ranked missions. Naruto's case from the anime was an exception. 

As for Tomoka, she didn't really care about doing these missions. Her plan was to ask for a C-ranked mission around the same time as Naruto did. This way she could maybe hijack Naruto's first C-ranked mission where she would meet Zabusa and Haku. Either way, all of that is for the future. 

As of now Tomoka was more interested in that blank spot in her map as she began to make theories regarding it. For example it could be where Ryuchi cave is located, or it could hold some forgotten relic of the past. It might even be where some Otsutsuki tech from the past is located. Though that last one wasn't too plausible. Either way, Tomoka would finally get to scratch that itch that had been bothering her curious mind for years now. 

'If I find nothing there at least it could be a good place to hide my base of operations. In the end I believe I will be able to get something of value from this expedition. It should also help a bit with Hinata's and Nozomi's dependence on me' 

[Yeah, those girls need to chill a bit. They have become far too attached to you. That can't be healthy.] Kurama had to agree with Tomoka. Through the past month the two girls had become clingier by the day. Not that Tomoka disliked it but she also knew that the girls needed to tone it down or it could lead to difficulties. 

'Well good ol' buddy ol' pal it seems like it will be just the two of us for a while' After saying that Tomoka began preparing what she would need for her little excursion in the wild.

[I won't be playing any games with you… cheater.] Kurama was still salty about Tomoka cheating whenever they played inside the mindscape. 

'You aren't trying to win if you aren't cheating.'